Any Atheists into Theology?

Post Reply New Topic

I haven't been a Christian for over a decade (subject to change), but in the last few years I've developed an interest in Christian theology. I think it's fascinating how scripture has been subject to so many different interpretations in different times and places. I love the debates in the early church over things like the nature of Christ, the development and decline of gnostic Christianity, the many different heresies and their doctrines, etc. It really makes me wonder how different Christianity would look today if only a few theological debates had gone differently, or if some movements had survived longer than they did. I also have interest in the theologies of eg: Islam and Hinduism but I know far less about those than I know of Christianity unfortunately.
Are there any other irreligious ppl here who find these kinds of things interesting?

Theology is fascinating. I’m an agnostic atheist.

I am. Not to usual autistic standards but I have a reasonable passing interest.

I'm agnostic (a relatively recent "deconvert"), and I still love theology. I don't study specific religions as much, but the fundamental philosophical questions and exploring how religion fits into a secular understanding of the world is still very interesting to me. I also love agnostic explorations of early Christian theology as a purely literary/cultural curiosity.

I'm not sure if I would call myself an atheist or agnostic, I would say more secularist maybe.

I was not raised religious,my father a Protestant of Danish origin and my mother Irish Catholic but never went to church.

In my early twenties I found an old Hebrew dictionary at an used book store.I discovered Judaism and studied it,read the Torah cover to cover from the first word in Berieshit to the last in Devarim.

My Hebrew is not good I can read some and know basic Alef-Bet,but otherwise not great.

I never converted at all but did think about in my twenties.I still watch YouTube videos by Rabbi's but I no longer read any Jewish Bible or Talmud.

It's a fascinating theology,most people today talk Christianity or eastern mysticism but you learn many interesting things from Judaism theologically.Worth studying for sure.

Isn't it strange how studying Theology seems to drive more people into Agnosticism or Atheism than any specific events in "The Church" itself?

I mean, if I had never picked up a Bible and actually read it, but only attended Mass two or three times a week, I too might be a totally brainwashed into believing whatever the priest was talking about.

Reading about religions is the main reason I'm an atheist.

I’m not an atheist nor an agnostic, but I find religion fascinating. The more I learn, the more I realize the inherent silliness of beliefs which are at the same time deeply sacred.

I suppose when you read it at a younger age it's about figuring out what kind of culture you live in. When you read it more as an adult you might be looking for a more broad account of what's worked in the past for establishing social cohesion.

I had a really dead-end job in my early 30's and was able to read the bible cover to cover in 5 weeks because I could read it 8 hours a day and get paid (really bad mismanagement, we had no work, and they weren't going to lay anyone off). I made several more passes at the areas I found interesting and increasingly found it to be a syncretic period piece. I'd already read the Chaldean oracle fragments, Corpus Hermeticum, done some digging on similarities between Babylonian and Jewish calendar and cosmology, and was working my way through some of Rudolph Steiner's better known work so I guess you could say I had a broader context to place that in.